Wetting preparations and their manufacture



Patented May 7, 1935 WETTING PREPAR Charles Dunbar, Manchester,

PATENT OFFICE ATIONS AND THEIR ACTURE Middleton, and William Todd, England, assignors to Imperial Chemical Industries Limited, a corporation of Great Britain No Drawing.

20 Claims.

The present invention relates to wetting preparations and their manufacture, and more particularly to preparations for increasing the wetting properties of caustic lyes such as employed in mercerizing processes.

Natural and artificial cellulosic fibers are commonly treated with alkaline liquors in what is known as a mercerizing process. In such processes, it has been found that the fibers do not readily become wetted with or penetrated by the alkaline liquors and thus it has been difficult to efliciently and evenly mercerize the fibers. Accordingly, it has been proposed to add various preparations to these alkaline liquors to cause them to more completely and efliciently wet and penetrate the fibers. Preparations which have been proposed for this purpose heretofore have comprised various substances or mixtures of substances such as phenols, hydrogenized aromatic substances, e. g., tetrahydroand decahydronaphthalene, hydrogenized naphthols, cyclohexanol, and the like, univalent saturated aliphatic or aromatic alcohols, mixtures of phenols, sulfonated fatty oils, together with other auxiliary agents. These preparations, heretofore employed, have not proved to be entirely satisfactory for the reason that scumming frequently takes place when the lyes, to which the wetting auxiliary agents have been added, are allowed to stand.. Some of the added substances rise to the top and, besides causing trouble by clotting and staining in use, render the underlying lye less capable'of wetting than it was when the mixture was homogeneous.

An object of our invention is to provide new wetting and penetrating preparations which are particularly adapted for use in mercerizing processes.- A further object is to provide such preparations which have superior wetting properties to those heretofore known. A still further object is to. provide new wetting and penetrating agents for use in caustic lye solutions which, when so used, produce a homogeneous solution. which does not tend to clot or scum and none of the constituents of which tend to separate from the solution. Another object is to provide a mercerizing process employing'new and improved alkaline solutions having superior wetting and pene-v trating properties. Still other and further ob jects are to provide new compositions ofinatter and to advance the art. Other objects will appear hereinafter. f

These objects may. be accomplished according to our invention which comprises mixing ter- Application June 22, 1932, Serial In Great Britain July 6, 1931 pineol, phenols and fatty acids and adding such mixture to the alkaline liquor or caustic lye to be used in the mercerizing process.

Our invention is based upon our discovery that superior activating influence, as regards wetting out and penetrating properties of caustic lyes used in mercerizing, is conferred by the addition to the caustic lyes of terpineol, phenols and fatty acids. These substances, when added to the caustic lyes, produce a homogeneous solution which does not tend to scum and from which none of the constituents tend to separate.

In carrying the invention into practical effect, we add to the caustic lye, either separately or together, terpineol, which may be either the pure compound or the commercial product known as pine oil; a phenol, preferably a cresol or xylenol or a mixture of cresols and xylenols; and a fatty acid, such as oleic acid. When these agents are to be added to the lye together, it is preferable that they be mixed beforehand, whereupon they produce a homogeneous composition which may be added to the caustic lye to give a homogeneous solution without requiring a. troublesome mixing operation.

By the term higher fatty acid" as employed in this specification and in the claims, we intend to include only the acids of those fats which are commonly employed in the manufacture of soap for instance, palmitic, stearic and oleic acids, and do not intend that the term have its extended chemical significance. The fatty acid aids in stabilizing the mixture and preventsclotting and scumming.

The commercial product known as pine oil consists, generally, of from 55-70% of terpineols. These terpineols constitute the major proportion of the oxygen containing compounds (alpha-terpineol, anethole, fenchyl alcohol, methyl chavicol, borneol, etc.) present in the oil. The pine oil also contains hydrocarbons, amounting to from 23-20% of the oil, which comprise pinene, dipentene and terpinolene; In our invention, the terpineols appear to be the main active eonstituents of the pine oil but it also appears that the other constituents of the desirable and favorable influence.

pine oil also have a.

The proportions of the various ingredients,

However, we do not wish to confine ourselves to' -the spirit of our invention.

.comprises adding,

- for our purposes.

In order to more clearly illustrate our invention and our preferred mode of carrying the same into effect, the following examples are given:

'Ea'ample 1.--90 lbs. of a mixture of equal parts of pale cresylic acid (comprising a mixture of the three cresols) and commercial xylenol (mixture) 6 lbs. of terpineol and 4 lbs. of oleic acid are mixed together. A clear mixture is obtained. 1.8 parts of this mixture is dissolved in 100 parts of 50 Tw. caustic soda lye to give a mercerizing liquor which will exhibit great wetting and penetrating properties.

Example 2.This example is substantially the same as Example 1, except that commercial pine oil was substituted for the terpineol of Example 1.

Example 3.91 lbs. of commercial xylenol (mixture), 8.1 lbs. of pine oil and 0.9 lbs. of oleic acid are mixed together. A clear mixture is obtained. 2.0 parts of this mixture are dissolved in 100 parts of 50 Tw. caustic soda lye to give a mercerizing liquor possessing wetting and penetrating properties somewhat superior to the liquors of Examples 1 and 2.

The xylenol, used in the above examples, is a commercial mixture having a boiling point range of 205-215 C.

The mercerizing liquors, prepared as described in the above examples, are clear and remain clear on standing. The mixture of pine oil, phenols, and fatty acid dissolves freely in caustic soda lye of about the gravity given, in the necessary proportions, in other words, up to or about 2 parts by weight for each 100 parts of the lye.

While, in the examples, we have disclosed preparations composed of specific proportions of certain substances, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many changes and modifications may be made therein, without departing from Accordingly, the scope of our invention is to be limited solely by the appended claims construed as broadly as is permissible in view of the prior art.

We claim:

1. A composition adapted to be added to caustic soda mercerizing liquors comprising a mixture of technical xylenols about 90 parts, commercial pine oil about 9 parts and oleic acid about 1 part.

2. In a mercerizing process, the step which comprises adding, to a caustic mercerizing liquor, a higher fatty acid, pine oil, and at least one member of the group consisting of cresols and xylenols.

3. In a mercerizing process, the step which to a caustic mercerizing liquor, a higher fatty acid, terpineol, and at least one member of the group consisting of 'cresols' and xylenols.

4. In a mercerizing process, the step which comprises adding, to a caustic mercerizing liquor, up to about 2% of a mixture comprising a higher fatty acid, pine oil and at least one member of the group consisting of cresols and xylenols.

5. In a mercerizing process, the step which comprises adding, to a caustic'mercerizing liquor, up to about 2% of a mixture comprising about 1-'? parts of a higher fatty acid, about 9- 3 parts of pine oil and about 90 parts of a member of the group consisting of cresols, xylenols and mixtures of cresols and,xylenols.

6. In a mercerizing process, the step which comprises adding to a caustic mercerizing liquor, up to about 2% of a'mixture comprising about 1 part of oleic acid, about 9 parts of pine oil and about 90 parts'of a mixture of technical xylenols.

'7. A wetting and. penetrating composition for use in mercerizing processes which comprises a homogeneous mixture of pine oil, phenols and higher fatty acids.

8. A wetting and penetrating composition for use in mercerizing processes which comprises a mixture of pine oil, a higher fatty acid, and at least one member of the group consisting of cresols and xylenols.

9. A wetting and penetrating composition for use in mercerizing processes which comprises about 3-9 parts of pine oil, about -95 parts of a member of the group consisting of cresols, xylenols and mixtures of cresols and xylenols, and higher fatty acids in amount to make up 100 parts. 10. A wetting and penetrating composition for use in mercerizing processes about parts sisting of cresols, xylenols and mixtures of oresols and xylenols, and about 10 parts of a mixture of terpineol and higher fatty acid, the terpineol preponderating.

11. A wetting and penetrating composition for use in mercerizing processes which comprises about 90 parts of a mixture of technical xylenols, about 9 parts of commercial pine oil, and about 1 part of oleic acid.

12. The process of mercerizing cotton fabrics, yarns, and the like which comprises treating them with a caustic lye solution containing a small amount of the composition of claim 7.

13. The process of mercerizing cotton fabrics, yarns,- and the like which comprises treating them with a caustic lye solution containing a small amount of the composition of claim 8.

14. The process of mercerizing cotton fabrics, yarns, and the like which comprises treating them with a caustic lye solution containing a small amount of the composition of claim 9.

15. The process of mercerizing cotton fabrics, yarns, and. the like which comprises treating them with a caustic lye solution containing a small amount of the composition of claim 10.

16. The process of mercerizing cotton fabrics, yarns, and the like which comprises treating them with a caustic lye solution containing a small amount of the composition of claim 11.

1'7. An improved mercerizing process wherein to the caustic lye mercerizing liquor are added a substance selected from the group consisting of terpineol and pine oil, a phenol selected from the group consisting of cresols and xylenols and mixtures thereof, and ahigher fatty'acid.

18. A composition adapted to be added to caustic soda mercerizing liquors to facilitate wetting and penetration, comprising substantially chosen phenols selected fromthe group consisting of cresols and xylenols and mixtures thereof, a substance selected from the group consisting of terpineol and pine-oil, and a higher fatty acid.

19. A composition oi matter adapted for use 19, the phenol being present in proportion of as an assistant in mercerizing baths, which c om about 90% by ,weight of the total mixture, and prises a mixture of a liquid phenol, terpineol and the terpineol component being present in at a fatty acid of the series commonly employed in least 4% by weight. 5 soap manufacture.

CHARLES DUNBAR. 20. A composition or matter as defined in claim WILLIAM TODD. 

